Scotland manager Walter Smith has declared the first phase of his re-building job complete.

Smith, who saw an experimental line-up record a 2-2 friendly draw in Austria on Wednesday, is convinced the national team has made significant progress in restoring a reputation badly tarnished under previous manager Berti Vogts. The Scots, who had been a top 20 nation at the turn of the century under Craig Brown, plummeted down the world rankings.

Smith, whose next team selection is for the visit of Italy next month, is now satisfied he can bank upon effort and application if not favourable results quite yet.

"I think we have achieved the first step that we needed to take, which was to make us more difficult to beat," he said.

"We still need to keep working on our confidence in terms of our possession, but I think we are getting there.

"No disrespect to Austria, but we will be taking on a step up in quality when we play Italy. I know one thing - we are in far better spirits to take part in a game like that than we were when I started.

"So at least from that point of view we are going forward, although whether that is good enough to get us results only the games will tell. I think the players themselves are taking a bit of pride in what they are doing."